Home At Last
by NorthStar51
Summary: What happens when Kirk and company meet the Robinsons? Find out in this story that takes place between ST: V Final Frontier and ST: VI Undiscovered Country on the Enterprise NCC-1701-A .
1. Chapter 0 Prologue

Prologue

Cold. Darkness. The dreamer felt he was terribly, terribly late for something. He felt like he was oversleeping but he still couldn't wake up. No, try as he might, he couldn't wake up and he couldn't shake the feeling there was something important he had to do.

His sleep was fitful and tormented. He was fighting… something. And it was so, so horribly cold. And dark. It felt like the darkness had a life of its own; like it was trying to smother him. The cold was also a physical thing; unlike the coldest winter season he'd ever experienced, this cold felt like it cut to his core, he could even feel the cold in the marrow of his bones.

Shaking? Blinding flashes of light? Planet quakes? Why did that not seem to be right? Why did this intermittent shaking feel so wrong? Where were the flashes of light coming from? What was wrong with the world? He knew something was wrong… he could feel it. He knew the cold and dark and shaking wasn't right. He just didn't know why it felt so wrong. If only he didn't feel so tired and so terribly cold. If only he could wake up…

* * *

I realize this first chapter was short—possibly the shortest chapter in the history of writing?—but it will get better. At least, I think it does. :o)

Thank you for reading my first story. I hope you've enjoyed what you've read and I hope you will continue to enjoy the coming chapters. I write in my spare time—What? Spare time? What the heck is that?—so be patient and trust that I'm getting this story out there as fast as I can. Please let me know what you think about it.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The buzz and murmur of the recreation room seemed to ebb and flow like a gentle tide lapping at a beach. Occasionally a brighter ripple of laughter would bubble up from one of the many groups of crew members sitting or standing about the room. The captain of the ship let the sounds of happiness fill him with a sense of contentment and relaxation. It seemed like there was nothing in all the known galaxies that could bother him today.

The _Enterprise's_ recreation facilities were the envy of Starfleet. Lieutenant Harb Tanzer had made sure the ship's officers and crew wanted for nothing in the way of recreation since his rotation onto the famous starship. Scattered around the room in a calculatedly casual way were a variety of tables and seating arrangements. Entertainment equipment included a variety of electronic games, holographic games and simulators, as well as more old-fashioned board games and card games. Tanzer made sure every card game known to the Federation—not to mention some of the bigger alien empires like the Klingons and the Romulans—was available to any of the crew who wanted them. Food and beverage synthesizers were located in several key positions in the walls of the room. As always, the room's most popular feature was the large, transparent aluminum windows that gave an unobstructed view of space outside the _Enterprise_. Lieutenant Tanzer worked very hard to make sure the _Enterprise_ crew could play as hard as they worked.

Lieutenant Tanzer also served another important—albeit less publicized—role; he was a vital component of the ship's medical staff. Tanzer was vital to the morale and healthy functioning of the crew and when morale levels began to drop, he and Doctor McCoy took steps to get it under control. At the moment Harb was engaged in the very important role of observing the captain's morale.

"Checkmate, Captain," said the Vulcan sitting across from him. His dark eyes seemed to have an extra sparkle in them at this announcement. His gracefully angled eyebrow lifted just a scant millimeter toward the oh-so-perfectly sculpted hairline.

"Is that satisfaction in your tone, Mr. Spock?" Not even the end of his winning streak could bother him today.

"Captain? Satisfaction is an emotion and, as you should be aware by this time, I do not suffer from that particular malady," the first officer replied calmly.

"No, Mr. Spock, I'm sure you would never feel so crass an emotion as that. _Especially_ not after beating the man who is responsible for your annual fitness report," and there was the smallest hint of a chuckle in his voice as he teased his first officer.

The eyebrow increased in altitude and concealed itself behind the shelter of the precisely trimmed hairline. "Really, Captain Kirk, I completely fail to understand the relationship, either positive or negative, between our recently completed chess game and my fitness report," Spock replied.

"What's this?" a voice drawled out behind the science officer. "There's something you don't understand, Mr. Spock? Why, this is a first! I may have to mark this day down on my calendar!"

"Doctor McCoy, I was unaware you had found a container of polychromatic pigmented alkanes with which to annotate your calendar," replied Spock with perfect composure and without turning around.

"What?" McCoy looked completely puzzled by the comment.

"I believe he's talking about crayons, Doc," Tanzer filled in between snorts of laughter.

"Crayons?" McCoy spluttered with indignation. "Why you green-blooded, pointy…"

The doctor's impending rant was interrupted by the sound of the ship's klaxon blasting the good humor in the room into silence. Virtually simultaneously, the ship's intercom whistle sounded throughout the rec room. "Red Alert! Red Alert! This is not a drill! All hands to battle stations! Captain Kirk to the bridge! Captain Kirk to the bridge!"

The room burst into activity as the _Enterprise's_ crew members ran for their battle stations. Captain Kirk made his way to the closest intercom unit and hit the activation button with the side of his fist. "Kirk here! Status Commander Uhura?"

"Sir, sensors are picking up three unidentified ships firing on what looks like a 'flying saucer'. Mr. Chekov is running sensor sweeps now to try to determine the identity of the attacking ships. Our shields are up and our weapons systems are charged and holding on standby." The young Bantu woman's voice had a controlled urgency in the tone. Nyota Uhura was a calm and capable officer and one day she would make an excellent starship captain.

"Very well, commander, I'm on the way." Turning from the wall to leave the rec room Kirk found Spock waiting on him near the door. "Well, Spock, are you ready to save the galaxy again?"

"I am unsure the 'galaxy' requires saving, Captain," replied the best science officer in Starfleet.

"The day is young, Spock. The day is young," prophesied the captain as he and the first officer left the rec room.

Turning left into the corridor, the pair raced for the closest turbolift. Alert status lights flashed red on the corridor walls while the klaxon continued to sound. As the captain and first officer approached the lift doors, the system recognized the captain's bio-readings and quickly shunted lift traffic away from this location while it delivered an empty lift car to the captain. Entering the lift car, Kirk said, "Bridge," before the lift doors had even began to close. The turbolift system gave the captain's lift car top priority as it rocketed toward the bridge seven decks up and at the center of the ship's saucer-like primary hull. The ride was smooth and gave no sign of the terrific speed at which the lift car traveled through the _Enterprise_. The only way to tell it was moving was to watch the movement status indicator panel located near the doors. The doors parted as the turbolift reached the bridge level; Kirk entered the bridge and moved to the command seat located at the center of the lower level of the circular control center. Spock followed the captain and moved to his science station in the upper level of the bridge behind, and to the right, of the ship's captain. As the two men moved to their stations, Uhura moved from the command chair and returned to her usual station at the communications panel.

"Status, Commander Uhura," queried the captain as he took his seat, "and kill the sound effects, please."

The red alert klaxon fell silent at the touch of a slender, dark finger as the lovely Bantu woman began her report to the captain, "Deflector shields up and all structural integrity fields enhanced to 150 percent. Phasers and photon torpedoes are on-line and ready. All crew members report at stations and ready. Engineering reports warp and impulse engines at 115 percent. Emergency power and backup power cells on-line and ready. Sickbay reports ready with no casualties and security reports all available security guards armed and at their stations," the communications officer reported crisply. "Three unknown vessels are at heading 280 mark 7. The unknown 'saucer' ship is located at heading 35 mark 3. All attempts at communications have, so far, been negative, sir."

"Thank you, lieutenant. Mr. Spock? What have you got," asked the captain as he turned from the communications officer to the science officer station.

"One moment, Captain," responded Spock, with a distracted tone as he consulted his instruments and scanners. The ultimate in multi-tasking, he was watching and reading data on two screens, absorbing information displayed in his hooded scanner, and pressing keys and buttons with both hands without looking.

While Spock studied his scanners, Kirk watched the ships on the view screen. As he watched their movements a constant stream of courses, tactics, and "what-if's" ran through his mind. The biggest of the three attacking ships was Tee-shaped with a large engine nacelle on each end of the "tee's" cross bar, and there appeared to be a command module on the end of the stem coming from the cross bar shape. Energy beams came from the unknown "tee" ship and connected it to the unknown flying saucer. Another smoky, dark spot appeared where the beams touched the saucer. Kirk could clearly see holes in the hull of the flying saucer and some of the holes were trailing clouds of something. Atmosphere? Coolant? Fuel? There just wasn't any way to tell what the clouds were just by looking at them. One thing he knew for certain was that ship wasn't going to last much longer. The unknown ship's energy beams didn't seem to be as bright as the phasers of the _Enterprise_. Could that mean they were weaker? Or were they merely different?

In addition to the tee-shaped ship, there was another ship adding its energy beams to the attack. Smaller than the first attacking ship, this one was wedge shaped with an engine nacelle above the ship and below the ship. It looked like the splitting wedges he used in his youth to split wood to feed into the wood-burning stove in the main living room of his mother's house. Even though that house had modern conveniences and utilities, his mother liked to burn wood during the winters. Especially at Christmas. At any rate, the beam weapons being employed by this ship were dimmer than those of the first ship. It really did look like it was less powerful than the first attacking ship, but Kirk well knew how appearances could be deceiving.

The third ship didn't seem to be taking part in the attack. Smaller than the other two ships, it looked like it would be a slow maneuvering and pondering ship. It was differently shaped than the two attacking ships and reminded him of some of the experimental Romulan ships he had seen in his last Starfleet Intelligence briefing. The front of the ship curved lower than the top of the ship and resembled the beak of a bird. At the very front of the beak was what appeared to be a large wrap-around window. The ship had two engine nacelles underneath of it and tucked close to the underside of the hull. It really looked like an eagle, or perhaps a hawk, flying off with prey clutched in his talons. When Kirk looked at this ship, he had the impression it was a cargo ship or freighter of some type. He automatically moved this ship to third place on his list of dangerous ships in this situation.

"Captain? I have reached some preliminary conclusions from the data provided by the sensors," said the _Enterprise's_ science officer.

"Go ahead, Spock. What are we seeing here," Kirk asked his first officer.

"All three ships produce power and emission patterns typical of the Orion Cartels. The first ship is a Guardian class destroyer with Orion Type 11 and Type 4 beam weapons. Additionally, it is capable of firing Orion Type 1 torpedoes. The Guardian class is 187 meters long and has a mass of 7,500 metric tons. The second ship is a Freelancer class blockade runner. Approximately equivalent to a Federation frigate, it has Type 5 beam weapons and no torpedoes. It is 200 meters long and masses 4,600 metric tons. This class of ship has been known to utilize a cloaking device, although our sensors cannot detect such a device if it is not operational. The third ship is an Industrious class 5 freighter. It is 78 meters long with an unloaded mass of 43,570 metric tons. It is equipped with Type 4 and Type 11 beam weapons but it does not have torpedo weapons. Sensors read no cargo in the freighter and I surmise it is here to take possession of the ship they are attacking.

"Individually, these ships pose no threat to _Enterprise_; however, all three ships pose a significant threat to us," the science officer concluded his briefing.

"Do sensors indicate any cloaked ships in our vicinity?"

"No, captain," responded the science officer. "None of our cloak detection sensors show any other ships in our area. I do recommend caution however; if there is a cloaked ship in the area, it is operating in what you have previously referred to as 'silent running'. We may not be able to detect any such ship until such time as it moves or drops its cloak for an attack."

"What about that saucer ship? What do you know about that one," Kirk questioned.

Spock immediately answered, "I have no data regarding this ship whatsoever. It does not appear in the ship's library computer banks and is of a type never before encountered by any Federation ship. Nor does it appear in any ship recognition database belonging to any of the other known races including the Romulan and Klingon Empires. The ship also doesn't appear in any of our historical ship recognition databases. The ship appears to be a dead ship. Power production is very minimal and insufficient to provide life support for any beings inside. However, sensors do pick up very low levels of life signs, but very much below that required by any known life forms. Sensors show the inside of the strange craft has no atmosphere and is exposed to vacuum due to the Orion phaser beams. The unknown ship does not appear to have any weapons capability and only has very minimal defensive shielding. That shielding is not now in operation. Furthermore, the ship appears to be powered by an antique and obsolete nuclear reactor similar to that used by early Earth space explorers 200 years ago. Speculating from readings of several large empty areas in the saucer ship, I believe it uses a deutronium fuel supply. That fuel supply appears to be exhausted. The ship is 25.6032 meters in diameter and 9.562643 meters tall. Internal scans indicate the presence of what appears to be some type of landing legs in a stored, or in-flight, position. That landing gear system would add another 1.542347 meters to the height of the ship."

"Hmm," mused Captain Kirk. "Too big to bring inside the hangar deck; we'll have to take it in tow with the tractor beam. You say your sensors have detected life signs on the strange saucer ship?"

"Yes, sir. Very low levels and unlike any readings I have encountered before," the science officer replied.

"All right, then. Let's go see what there is to see. Commander Sulu! Take us in and set course to intercept the Guardian class destroyer. Put our shields between it and the saucer. Lieutenant Commander Chekov? Lock phasers on the Guardian and fire one photon torpedo across its bow on my command. Commander Uhura! Open a channel to the Guardian class destroyer. I want to speak to them." Kirk's orders flashed out across the bridge. The _Enterprise_ seemed to gather herself for a moment and then leap into the combat area. Kirk knew that idea was an illusion and only happened in his imagination, but he'd always considered the _Enterprise_ to be more than just a very complicated piece of machinery. He always felt as if the ship had a life of her own and was eager to respond to his commands and show off a bit.

As the _Enterprise_ accelerated into the area between the Orion destroyer and the unknown saucer ship, Uhura replied to the captain's command, "Sir, they continue to ignore our hails. No response on any frequency."

"Very well, commander. Mr. Chekov. Fire that torpedo," commanded Kirk.

There was an almost imperceptible shiver as the magnatomic launch system ejected the photon torpedo and sent it on its way to the pirate ship. The torpedo left a trail of glowing light as it traveled the distance to the Orion destroyer. The glowing, winking spot of light shot past the front of the enemy ship, missing it by less than 10 meters, and disappeared into space beyond the ships.

"Captain! The destroyer is hailing us now," called out the communications officer.

"On screen, Commander Uhura," Kirk directed.

"Federation thief! Stealer of honest labor! Devourer of children! You un-named son of a Arcturian slime slug! What do you mean by firing on honest salvage merchants of the great Orion Trader Consortium? Explain yourself!" The challenge by the Orion commander blasted through the communication channels.

Kirk took a moment to observe the ranting commander on the screen before him. The veins standing out on his forehead and from the side of his throat throbbed as the alien shouted out his rage. His skin was so dark a green as to appear almost black. His hair hung off his head in long, greasy chains and clumps. Brilliant and multifaceted jewelry was draped around his neck and hung from bangles on his wrists. A vicious scar—tribute to some long ago fight—traversed a diagonal line from just above his left eye to just below the right side of his nose. The Orion commander was hugely muscled and broad of shoulder. He looked every bit as mean and ugly as the words he shouted. A dangerous man, but one quick to anger; a quick temper meant the possibility of mistakes and careless actions. Kirk took all this in—and more—in less time that it takes to blink.

"This is Captain James T. Kirk, commanding the Federation starship _Enterprise_. We've been hailing you and your ships since our arrival and received no response. I suspected a photon torpedo might get your attention. Now that I _do_ have your attention, would you care to explain to me why you are firing on an unarmed ship?" Kirk's tone and body language clearly communicated his intention to put up with no further nonsense.

"What! I am Consortium Colonel General Mombrak! I do not recognize your authority in this region of space! You will cease your pitiful attempts to steal our salvage prize and depart the area at once! I will destroy you and then I will locate your bloated corpse in the wreckage of your puny excuse for a ship. When I have your stinking corpse beamed aboard my ship, I will mount your head on a pike to be displayed publicly. I will have your worthless and fetid remains thrown to my targs for them to eat! Leave! Now! Or be prepared to lose everything you hold dear!" The Orion commander's face got even darker than it was before as his rage and vitriol spewed forth.

"Colonel General Mombrak, your ships are no match for _Enterprise_. If you insist in behaving so foolishly and childishly, we will destroy your fleet. Interstellar salvage laws do not apply when the salvage target is inhabited. Since that spacecraft has life signs in it, that means it is not eligible for salvage. It belongs to the inhabitants." Kirk was in no mood to tolerate pirates and slavers. Nor did he feel especially inclined toward being polite to them. The best he could muster was a direct explanation of the facts. If blows were to follow the harsh words of the pirate, then _Enterprise_ would not be the first to throw them.

Suddenly, the picture on the view screen went blank. Commander Uhura said, "Captain, they've broken off communications."

With the end of the transmission, the Guardian class destroyer accelerated quickly and began to turn toward the _Enterprise_. As the destroyer's forward weapons came in line with the _Enterprise_ a pale, green beam lanced into the _Enterprise's_ left forward deflector shield. At the same time, but from the opposite heading, the Freelancer class ship directed its fire into the _Enterprise's_ right rear shield. However, thanks to the shielding, there was no discernible effect from the enemy beams on the _Enterprise_.

"Shields down 2.3875 percent captain," reported Commander Spock from the science station.

"Very well, Mister Spock. Mister Sulu, plot an evasive intercept course for the destroyer. Mister Chekov, I want you to target the blockade runner's warp engines as the rear weapons come to bear. Put one torpedo and all rear phasers on the same spot. Break through its shields and disable their warp power. At the same time you fire the rear weapons, I want all available forward weapons to target the warp engines on the destroyer. I want it disabled, also. Mister Spock, keep an eye out for that freighter and for any signs of a cloaked vessel in the area. Mr. Chekov? Have you got your firing solution? Very well; give me tactical on the view screen." Kirk's orders rang out in a crisp, firm, confident voice. He did not intend for this to go on for one minute longer than necessary. The real-time image of Orion ships changed to the information-rich tactical display. Each ship, including the _Enterprise_, was represented by an icon. Critical information concerning each ship's power, heading, shielding, and damage was listed next to each ship icon. A confusing display to the untrained, it provided Kirk with valuable information as he plotted maneuvers and tactics in his mind.

The _Enterprise_ shivered again as the Orion weapons impacted the shields. This time, however, the weapons fire came from all three enemy vessels. Every beam, every missile, and every other offensive weapon in the Orion's inventory hit the _Enterprise_. To little effect, though; the powerful and graceful starship's shields flared and flashed under the violence of the enemy attack, but they held. In reply the _Enterprise's_ photon torpedo launcher spat one sparkling point of light toward the Orion destroyer. A mere instant before the torpedo made contact with the Orion ship, two pale blue beams erupted from the bow of the _Enterprise_ and connected to the Orion destroyer's left rear shield. The photon torpedo exploded against the same shield, at the same point of contact as the _Enterprise's_ phaser beams, and that shield failed. In a time so fast as to be virtually incalculable, that shield ran the gamut of colors from red, to blue, to white, and into the ultraviolet, and then black. The _Enterprise's_ phaser beams cut through the failed shield and made contact with the superstructure supporting the destroyer's warp engine. That arm, strong though it was, simply couldn't stand under the onslaught of those phaser beams; it simply ceased to exist. The warp engine, now freed from its connection to the Orion destroyer, spun away from the remainder of the destroyer and disappeared into the endless night of interstellar space. A trail of glowing, sparkling bits of hull material and unchanneled energy marked the passing of the engine.

As for the destroyer itself, it twisted and spun away from the indescribable ferocity of the _Enterprise's_ phasers almost as if it were a live animal twisting and spinning away from its attacker. Lights all over the destroyer winked and flashed and went dark. Energy surged wildly throughout the interior of the Orion destroyer as circuits overloaded and melted. Fires broke out and burst through panels and control surfaces in a hundred places. Orion damage control teams rushed to save their stricken ship.

At the same time as the _Enterprise's_ forward weapons struck the destroyer, her rear weapons lashed out at the blockade runner. Those shields failed even more quickly than did the shields on the destroyer. However, the damage inflicted on the blockade runner differed from that of the destroyer. Instead of hitting the supporting structure of the warp engine nacelle, the _Enterprise's_ phasers struck the engine itself and bored completely through the structure of the engine. Delicate circuitry, reinforced piping and wiring instantly vaporized at the touch of those ravening beams. Power normally meant to operate and control that massive warp engine was suddenly freed from its constraints and shorted to the closest ground point it could find. That power also contributed to the destruction of the engine structure and melted and vaporized more components. Where the unrestrained power could not find a ground path, it ran back through any circuitry it could find and laid waste to control panels and other circuits elsewhere in the blockade runner.

"Shields down 20 percent, Captain," Mr. Spock reported calmly. "No damage to the ship. No injuries to the crew."

"Status of the destroyer, Mr. Spock," Kirk questioned without turning away from the main view screen at the front of the bridge.

"It has lost all warp speed capability. Its weapons and shields are off-line, and due to the power surges which registered on our sensors, they won't be able to bring them back on-line without major starbase maintenance facilities. The destroyer's life support systems are at minimal levels. They have suffered hull breaches in several areas and 18.24365 percent of the destroyer's living areas are exposed to space. I also calculate the Orion's have only 31.64398 percent of impulse power available; it will take them 6.64923 standard days to affect the necessary repairs to return to their nearest repair facility." Spock's report was concise.

"Status of the other two Orion ships?" Kirk could see them on the main view screen, to all outward appearances the enemy ships were sitting motionless and quiet. Kirk knew how quick that could change, though, and he had no intention of being taken by surprise.

"Minor damage to the Industrious class freighter, Keptin," Lt Commander Chekov replied in his unique Russian accent. "They were struck by debris from the destroyer's engine nacelle and support pylon. It's not enough to effect the freighter's ability to fire its phasers."

"The blockade runner is also severely damaged, Captain," reported Spock. "They have completely lost their ventral warp engine and have suffered massive power feedback damage and outages throughout the ship. According to sensors, the blockade runner is in danger of a warp core breach, but I estimate their engineering crew will be able to eject the core in 2.3497 standard minutes. No physical damage to the hull or internal superstructure of the ship. They also maintain full impulse power capability, although that will not be enough to power their weapons and shields. Short of a ramming attempt, or the failure of the crew to eject the warp core, they are no longer a threat to the _Enterprise_."

A moment after Spock gave his report, a viciously bright star sped away from the wounded blockade runner. The warp core trailed streamers of energy as the uncontrolled merger of matter and antimatter ran unchecked inside the core's magnetic containment fields. The core had traveled a thousand kilometers away from the scene of the battle when its magnetic containment system finally failed. The brightness of the explosion momentarily blotted out the stars and would have blinded any person looking at it if the viewscreen had not automatically stepped down that brightness.

"Uhura. Signal the destroyer's commander, please," Kirk requested of his communications officer.

"Yes, sir," Uhura replied. Always outwardly calm, cool, and collected—no matter the circumstances—her voice betrayed not the smallest clue to the inner turmoil she felt. Going into battle always made her anxious—not fearful, for she had absolute confidence in Kirk's abilities as well as for the capabilities of the _Enterprise_—no, she dreaded the casualty reports that would come in to her station to be reported to the captain. With a total crew load of slightly less than 500 people, she knew them all. It was always a sad and tragic shock when one of her crewmates was injured—or killed!—in a battle. She was grateful beyond words that had not happened during the brief engagement.

The image on the main view screen changed from the sight of the three enemy ships and the one unidentified one. That deceptively calm and peaceful view of space was replaced by the image of the destroyer's captain. His face was covered in soot and grime and tracks of sweat running from his forehead had cut furrows into the grime. Thick, dark clouds of smoke and coolant and fire extinguishing media hung in the air of the Orion bridge. Kirk could see small fingers of flame licking up through the control panels of various control stations.

"Captain," Kirk stated. "Your ships are damaged beyond your ability to repair without major shipyard facilities. Your slave freighter is the only one of your ships that retains warp speed capability. I suggest you transfer all personnel to that ship and go home. If you attempt any further aggression against the _Enterprise_, or the unknown saucer ship, I will destroy you. Do you understand me?"

The Orion commander raged into the screen at Kirk. "I understand this, Federation scum! I understand you have damaged my ships and killed many, many members of my crews for no reason! You are NOTHING more than a thief and a murderer and I will see you rot in the deepest, most miserable, tortured corner of you favorite hell for your crimes! This is NOT over, Federation slime! I will make you pay! I will make you suffer for your crimes to the Orion people!"

The Orion commander abruptly disappeared from the viewscreen and the view of space returned. Energy surges still spilled out of the damaged parts of the Orion ships as they began moving away from the area. Kirk could see streamers of something still coming from the openings in the mysterious saucer ship. Calm had returned to the bridge for the moment with an almost audible sigh of relief from all present.

"Chekov, take us to yellow alert," Kirk ordered. "Keep our shields up and put the weapons on standby. Let's go see if our 'prize' is worth the trouble we've had."

* * *

Thank you for reading my first story. I hope you've enjoyed what you've read and I hope you will continue to enjoy the coming chapters. I write in my spare time—What? Spare time? What the heck is that?—so be patient and trust that I'm getting this story out there as fast as I can. Please let me know what you think about it.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Alright, Mr. Spock, what have we learned about the mystery ship?" All eyes in the briefing room turned to Spock in anticipation of his response to Kirk's query.

"Our sensors are detecting six life signs in the vessel," the science officer reported. "The ship has two sections; an upper and lower deck. The upper deck is where the low-level life signs are being detected. The lower deck is an unknown at this point, Captain, as there is no power being consumed and no active equipment at this time. Our sensors can detect equipment, computers, and other electronic devices, but I cannot determine the functions of the equipment. I sent a remote probe to the mystery vessel but was unable to obtain more detailed information. Views through the only open view port were unsuccessful at determining the origin of the ship, nor could the occupants be seen. It would appear there is some type of gravity system still functioning in the ship as the probe's visual systems showed pieces of debris laying on the deck plating."

The viewscreens in the briefing room displayed images captured by the probe. Debris could clearly be seen laying on the flooring of the unknown vessel. The type of flooring could not be seen due to thick deposits of dust. Trails in the dust indicated where debris from the Orion attack had slid through the dust before coming to rest. In the center of the upper deck was a large, round console with a dome on top. Any possible function of this console was hidden beneath the obscuring layers of dust. Furthermore, while the members of the _Enterprise_ had an impression of a clear dome, they really couldn't see if it was clear or not thanks to the dust.

"Power levels on the ship are miniscule. Readings indicate their power generation equipment is non-functional. There are, however six systems drawing low levels of power; perhaps from photo-electric supply systems. Those readings are consistent with the amount of power which would be generated from the starlight in this area of space. The power levels are not sufficient to provide any form of life support as we know it. Therefore, I am unable to determine what types of life forms are present." Spock finished his initial report and awaited follow-up questions.

"Very well, Mr. Spock, thank you," responded the captain. "Doctor McCoy, have you anything to add to Spock's report?"

"No, Jim, I don't. The scale of the equipment we can see through the window indicates a humanoid crew approximately one to two meters tall. They may have two hands, or they may have more, but they definitely have at least two hands and arms. I base that opinion on the arrangement of the few control panels that we can see with the probe." Doctor McCoy's normally brash manner was not evident in his tone. When reporting on new life forms and new ecological systems, he was all business.

Kirk digested this information while watching the images on the viewscreen. "Thanks, Bones. Something about that ship just 'feels' human, to me. Can you tell if the life signs we're seeing are human? Or can you tell what type of life form they are?"

"No, Jim, I can't. They're just too low for me to tell what they are."

"Alright. Scotty? What can you tell us about the ship itself?"

The chief engineer took a moment before answering. "Not much, Captain. As stated earlier, the mystery ship appears to be powered by a deutronium reactor located in the bottom of the ship. If you look to the screen, you can see that the generator is off-line. Sensors indicate fuel storage areas in the lower level of the ship, but those areas are empty. It looks to me like they ran out of gas, Captain."

Kirk looked at the images of the saucer-shaped craft's reactor assembly on the bottom of the ship. He could see a segmented ring protruding from the center of the ship's bottom plating. From its darkened appearance he could see it was clearly not working.

"Very well, Scotty. Is there anything else?" Kirk looked to Scotty as he asked.

"Just one more thing, Cap'n," the chief engineer began. His Scottish brogue crept into his voice as he said, "If we don't do sumthin' to help them puir folks, they will be completely out of power in less than a month. Their tumblin' path is taking them into an area whur the levels o' starlight'll be too low to support wha'ever is pullin' power ri' now. If we don' help 'em, they'll be dead in a month."

"Alright, Scotty. We'll see what we can do for them. Whoever they are," Kirk responded.

Looking to the _Enterprise's_ tactical officer, he continued, "Mr. Chekov? What of our Orion 'friends' out there?"

"They appear to have set the destroyer and the blockade runner to an automated heading for their home port. Then they all beamed over to the freighter and warped out of the system. When we could last see them on our sensors they were traveling at Warp 6. The two empty, damaged ships will be out of our sensor range in approximately five weeks at their current speed. They are both already 150,000 kilometers away from the _Enterprise_ and the mystery ship." Chekov concluded his report.

"Well, hopefully, that's the last we'll see of them for a good, long while. Uhura? Did they make any transmissions before they left?"

"Yes, sir, they did. It was a 15-second, coded microburst. I'm unable to break the code and none of the code systems in our computer can break it, either. It is undoubtedly a code that's specific to their own cartel," Uhura replied succinctly.

"Alright, I'll assume they hollered for help and we're going to have more Orion company in… Spock? How long do you think it'll take them to get reinforcements here?"

"Extrapolating their course and referring to star charts of nearby systems, the soonest I would expect them to be here is in approximately 4.9724 days at Warp 6. That estimate assumes their reinforcements are coming from Beta WindiMar located 5.31473 light years from us."

"Alright, let's get this show on the road. Mr. Sulu, I want you to prepare to take the mystery ship in tow. Before you lock on to it for traveling, I want you to kill that tumble with the tractor beam. Orient her to the _Enterprise's_ 'up and down'; assume the segmented ring is the 'bottom' of the saucer. Once you have it stabilized, lock onto it with the tractor beam and set course for Starbase 36. We'll have a repair crew on the exterior of the saucer so make your speed three quarters impulse. No warp speed until everybody's inside. I want to be out of this area within the hour. Will that give you enough time to 'snag' our new friends?" Kirk already knew how Sulu would respond, but he asked the question anyway.

"Yes, sir, an hour is more than enough time for me to 'snag' that ship. I'll have her hooked up snug as a bug in less than 15 minutes," the _Enterprise's_ chief helm officer spoke without boasting. His helm skills were without question the best in Federation, Klingon, or Romulan space. If he said he could do it, then you could bet your next paycheck on it.

"Very well, Mr. Sulu," Kirk responded with a smile. "Get our 'bug' all 'snugged' up. As soon as you have that ship 'on the hook', notify me in Transporter Room 6 and we'll beam over to that ship and see what we can learn from it."

Kirk paused for a moment as he mentally reviewed the list of people he wanted with him on the landing party. "Landing party members will be as follows: Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, Mr. Scott, Lt Kerasus plus one other security guard, and a damage control team. Mr. Scott, will you please select your best damage control team? Have them assemble in Cargo Transporter Room 1 with the supplies and equipment they'll need to get that ship patched up. I want her to be able to hold an atmosphere as soon as possible. I also want you to bring one of our emergency rescue generators with us in case we need power for any of their equipment." As Kirk spoke, the officers around the briefing room table nodded their heads and began making their own lists of equipment to bring. "Commander Uhura will be in command of the _Enterprise_ while we're over there."

"Jim," McCoy began, "I'd like to bring Christine Chapel along with me to assist with whatever, or whoever, is generating those life sign readings."

"That's fine, Bones. She's checked out in the new deflector-equipped EVA suits, isn't she?"

"Yes, she took the training during our last stop at Starbase 14 six months ago," the doctor explained.

"Good. Everyone get the equipment you feel will be needed over there and assemble in Transporter Room 6. We'll depart in one hour." Kirk looked at each of his officers in the briefing room. "Any questions? No? Alright, then… dismissed."

* * *

Thank you for reading my first story. I hope you've enjoyed what you've read and I hope you will continue to enjoy the coming chapters. I write in my spare time—What? Spare time? What the heck is that?—so be patient and trust that I'm getting this story out there as fast as I can. Please let me know what you think about it.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"…no sign of the Orions, still, Captain. According to astrographics, the closest possible base for them is approximately four parsecs away. Their projected course when they dropped off our sensors jives with the intelligence from astrographics." Sulu's voice paused in his report as he consulted with the _Enterprise's_ navigation computer. "At their observed speed of warp 6, that gives them a 22 day travel time to reach their base. Uhura says they can't possibly receive a reply to subspace radio for almost 7.62 hours."

"Very well, commander," Kirk replied as the members of the landing party entered the transporter room. "Continue on yellow alert and raise the shields again just as soon as transport is completed. Keep sensors extended out as far as they'll go. I don't want any rude surprises from the Orions. Is our mystery ship still riding fine in the tractor beam?"

"Yes, sir, it is. The 'saucer' shape of the ship makes it travel through our warp envelope extremely smoothly. It's actually sliding through the warp envelope more smoothly than the _Enterprise_."

"Good to hear, Commander Sulu," Kirk's reply held the hint of a chuckle. "Keep us on course to Starbase 36 and keep your 'eyes' open. Kirk out."

Kirk thumbed off the intercom and turned to face the rest of the landing party in the transporter ready room. His movements were not quite as graceful as usual due to the bulk of the d-EVA suit. He saw the rest of the landing party members going through last-minute suit and equipment checks. Each landing party member was attended by a member of the life support section running a tricorder over their d-EVA suit and physically and visually checking the proper function of the suit. Kirk thought back to his Academy days and his EVA instructor. That old coot's favorite saying was _'Sucking vacuum is the nastiest way to have your whole day ruined. Don't check your suit; suck vacuum.'_ He walked over to the life support tech awaiting him. "Am I good to go, Ensign Gibbs?"

"Five minutes, sir," the ensign replied as he began checking Kirk's d-EVA suit. Gibbs lowered the captain's helmet onto his suit and made the initial connections. Until the helmet's visor was lowered, Kirk was still breathing air from the _Enterprise_. The suit's cooling systems made sure he didn't overheat by accepting power beamed from specialized transmitters in the transporter ready room. Accepting beamed power saved the suit's internal power supplies and made sure the suit had the maximum 48-hour life support capability when the wearer entered the deadly environment of open space. The new deflector equipped extravehicular activity suits, or d-EVA suits as everyone called them, were a vast improvement over the suits the _Enterprise_ used to have. Both in comfort and life support capabilities. The deflector shield component of the suit was nice, too. Designed to stop multiple hand phaser shots and large projectiles, the deflector shield's control computer automatically angled the shield for maximum deflection and absorbed a small portion of the energy from beam weapons to reinforce the shield without draining the suit's onboard power supplies.

"There you go, Captain, you're all set," Gibbs informed Kirk.

"Thank you, Ensign," Kirk responded. As he shifted the suit on his body so it would ride more comfortably he observed that the others were ready to go. "All right, people, visors down and let's get going."

He pulled his visor down and locked it into place and the suit's heads-up display activated and projected vital information about the environment surrounding the suit. External temperature, atmospheric composition, radiation, and other vital information glowed in front of Kirk's eyes. The HUD also showed Kirk status information about the suit itself: power remaining, internal atmosphere supplies and regeneration, suit integrity, deflector power and capability, and all the other information needed by the wearer were shown by a series of graphic symbols. The HUD also showed each member of the landing party as a color and name. Finally, for self-defense, each d-EVA suit had a phaser emitter built into each sleeve. Mounted on the outer forearm—or an analogous part for other races with different physiognomies—this phaser emitter was more powerful than a standard Phaser 2, but less powerful than a phaser rifle. Powered by each suit's on-board power supply, the phaser gave the wearer of the suit a powerful defense. It was controlled by a voice command from the wearer and—like a standard phaser—could be set to stun, kill, disrupt, or vaporize.

Kirk activated his suit communicator and spoke to the members of the landing party, "Alright people, everyone get on a transporter pad. Remember, the alien ship has no internal atmosphere, and sensors show it does have an active gravity field. We don't know exactly what the gravity field is, but estimating from the construction of the saucer, it should be approximately Earth normal." He looked at each of the landing party members in the transporter room, and he knew that the damage control team members in cargo transporter 1 were also hearing his voice. "Our sensors also show that this gravity field is fluctuating, although we don't know if it's caused by damage to the saucer, faulty generator coils, low power, or it may even be intentional. Keep your heads up and your eyes and ears open. We don't know what's over there, if anything. If the gravity fluctuations start to get to you, don't try and be a 'hero'—take a space sickness shot; your suit is programmed to administer the appropriate dose. If you 'yurp' in your suit, not only do you have to live with it, but Mr. Scott will be less than happy with you." The twinkle of humor in his eye made its way to his voice and came through the communicator channel.

"Sound off with your name to confirm readiness to transport," Kirk ordered.

"Spock."

"McCoy here—ready as I'll ever be, Jim." The other members of the landing party well knew of the doctor's distrust of the transporter.

"Aye, Captain, I'm ready to see what this wee beastie is made of," Scotty's voice rang out.

"Chapel; I'm ready, too, Captain Kirk."

"Freeman, sir. Damage control tools and equipment checked and ready." The head of the damage control team was in cargo transporter room 1 with the rest of her detail. Kirk knew that Lieutenant Windy Freeman was a capable officer and could put a ship back together with spit, bubblegum, and duct tape.

"Ensign Garcia, sir," came the voice of a junior officer in damage control. _Enterprise_ was his first starship posting and, like all ensigns from the dawn of naval ships, he was eager and excited about everything. Garcia would be in charge of the damage control team working on the exterior surfaces of the strange saucer ship.

"White reporting ready, Captain." Kirk knew the petty officer well and knew the older NCO was a steady hand and would help keep Ensign Garcia steadied down.

"Grant ready, sir."

"Williams also ready to go, sir."

"Kerasus. All systems are green and 'go', sir," the lieutenant from security was experienced and well-versed in just about every environment known to Starfleet. She was calm, steady, and—aside from Mr. Spock—could best any member of the _Enterprise_ crew in hand-to-hand combat training.

"Wolfe here, Captain. Ready to go." The second member of the security team would stay with the damage control team working on the outside hull of the saucer ship.

Kirk ascended the steps to his preferred transporter pad while the other five members of his team assembled around him, each on a transporter pad. By unspoken tradition, Spock took the pad to Kirk's left and McCoy took the pad to Kirk's right. Once everyone had taken his, or her place, Kirk said, "Internal visor lights off. Activate your external suit lights. You want to be able to see what's in front of you. After all, this isn't one of those silly 20th century science fiction movies.

"Cargo transporter room 1; is everyone in place and ready?" Kirk listened to Lt. Freeman confirm her team's readiness. Kirk looked to his former yeoman, now a lieutenant in the Ship Support Services section, and said, "Rand? Energize."

As with every transport, the first thing that happened was the first stage force field came on and immobilized everyone in their place. Kirk could see the twinkle of the transporter field effect begin in front of his eyes and feel the tingle build throughout his body as the transporter computer began scanning his every atom. It always felt like his whole body had "fallen asleep" and had pins and needles. People who had never used a transporter always assumed your vision when completely dark and you couldn't see. In fact, the opposite was true; his entire field of vision became a soft, white blur. He always thought it looked like being in a blizzard in Wyoming in mid-morning. Everything was white and you couldn't tell where the ground ended and the sky began. Then, the field of white began clearing as the transporter reassembled all of his atoms. This was by design so that anyone who was transporting could see what was around them even before their body began reassembling. A safety precaution, it gave the person a chance to see any danger around them and be ready for it when released from the transporter field effect. The pins and needles feeling dissipated as his body reassembled and a second later he could move as he was released from the field.

The first thing Kirk noticed was the darkness at the edge of his helmet lights. Not like a darkened house at night, no, this was the complete and total absence of light. Since there was no atmosphere in the mystery ship, the beams from his helmet lights did not softly diffuse to other parts of the ship. The meeting of light and dark was as crisp, hard, and clean as if it was cut with a scalpel. The darkness warred with the beams of light and fought to crush the light with a seemingly palpable weight. In no way could this dark be considered soft, or friendly; this dark was an adversary and it conjured all the boogie men and other bad things that have haunted mankind since he first squatted in a prehistoric cave trembling at the horrible sounds of the night. This was the dark that something bad could—and often did—jump out of to snap up the unwary. All of these thoughts and feelings flitted through the back of Kirk's mind in a microsecond.

"Deflector shields up, people." Kirk's ringing, confident voice was a beacon of reassurance for some of the members of the landing party.

Kirk could see by the readouts on his command HUD that all of the d-EVA suits had an active deflector shield blossom even though he couldn't actually see a deflector shield. After ensuring his crew members were as safe as he knew how to make them, he began looking around strange ship.

The first thing he noticed was a circular pedestal in the center of the deck. Spaced around the pedestal were various controls, buttons, and levers. On the top of the pedestal was what appeared to be a old-fashioned gyroscope covered with a clear dome. Whether the dome was glass or some sort of plastic material was undeterminable by visual inspection. Directly behind the pedestal, and against the wall, was a circular cage and to the left of the cage was what appeared to be a ladder descending to the lower deck of the strange ship. Moving around the pedestal and walking toward the circular cage, Kirk could see it was an elevator, or lift, to move between the decks. He knew there had to be a purpose for the lift, but at first glance he couldn't determine what that purpose could be.

To the right of the lift cage was a closed hatch and there was a twin to it on the left side of the ladder. Picking the left hatch at random, he moved to it and looked for a way to open it. To the right of the hatch, about chest high, was a set of two buttons one above the other. To the left of the hatch, and even with his eyes, was a blank panel. Wiping the dust off the buttons, he could see the upper button was green and the lower button was red. The green one was labeled "open" and the red button was labeled "close". In English. English? It could be coincidence, but he moved again to the left to examine the next set of control panels. Wiping off the ever-present layer of dust he saw more labels. Again, in English, so it was definitely not a coincidence, then.

"Mr. Spock? I believe this is an Earth ship. I have buttons and labels over here labeled in English." Kirk continued looking at the control panels built into the wall as he spoke with Spock. They gave a sense of familiarity to him in the same way he could beam aboard any Federation ship and know where certain things were located. It didn't mean he knew what all of the functions were, necessarily, but their placement and layout were familiar.

Meanwhile, as he listened to his captain, Spock moved around the ship scanning with his tricorder. "Yes, Captain, I have found more English labels as well."

"Have you had any luck finding their master computer system?" Kirk asked his science officer.

"Yes, I believe I have. I am unable to download or examine their data because the systems are all unpowered."

"Scotty? Will you be able to restore power to this ship?" Kirk turned in the direction of the engineer as he spoke.

"I canna tell you just yet, Captain," replied the Scottish miracle maker. "I'm still tracing circuits, but I'm pretty sure the main power generator is on the lower deck."

"Alright Scotty. Take Kerasus with you when you go down there. Nobody wanders off on their own," Kirk was adamant in this; working in pairs lowered the level of danger a bit.

"Aye, sir. C'mon, Lieutenant, let's go see what we can find downstairs," the cheerfulness of his tone clearly showed how much he enjoyed a new mechanical puzzle.

"Coming, sir," Kerasus responded.

"Jim! I found the crew of this ship! Over here!" The urgency in McCoy's voice snapped from the communicators in everyone's d-EVA suit.

Turning toward the two members of the landing party that showed on his HUD in blue with the names "McCoy" and "Chapel", Kirk saw six vertical tubes running between the floor and the ceiling of the mystery ship's upper deck. Five of the tubes were still completely covered in dust. McCoy, or Chapel, had wiped some of the dust from the left-most tube in the series of six. Kirk could see the face of a man behind the transparent surface of the tube. Kirk still didn't know if it was glass, plastic, or some more exotic material, but he was beginning to suspect it was actually glass.

The face behind the glass was a pleasant face. The man had thick, curly, brown hair and strong jaw. He appeared to be about 2 meters tall, or about 6'3" in the old measurement system. Kirk looked at the man behind the glass and knew instinctively that this man was the captain of the mystery ship. "What have you found, Bones?"

"According to my tricorder, the people in these tubes are human to the tenth classification limit. This man is about 35 Earth years old. He's alive and in suspended animation. All of these tubes have a person inside in suspended animation. I can't tell how long they've been 'asleep', but they are all definitely alive. That's the good news. The bad news is that these tubes are going to fail very soon. I estimate they'll be out of power in less than 10 hours. I don't know if it's just because the ship is out of power or if it's caused by the Orions' weapons fire. We've got to get some power and life support restored to this ship, or these people will die!" McCoy had always been passionate when it came to saving lives.

"Alright, Bones, let's see what Scotty can tell us. Scotty? Can you hear me?" Kirk's called to the engineer on the lower level.

"Aye, Captain, I ken hear ye," came the Scottish brogue from the lower deck.

"What's the status of the ship's power systems?"

"It looks like she just ran out of fuel. She runs on deutronium but I've never seen anything like this except for a couple of old ships in the Spaceflight Museum on Mars. We don't even have any deutronium on the _Enterprise_. I can convert her to run on a matter/anti-matter fuel system, though," the _Enterprise's_ chief engineer was rapidly running through a list of materials he would need for the conversion as he spoke.

"How long will it take, Scotty," Kirk asked.

"I can have her up and running in 12 hours, Captain."

"We don't have 12 hours, Scotty. Doctor McCoy says these people in the suspended animation tubes will be dead in less than 10 hours. Can you 'shade-tree' power for him and Nurse Chapel?" Kirk's first priority was to his crew of course, but he felt just as strongly about the crew of this mystery ship.

"Yes, Captain, I can hook up a couple of our emergency generators to power the suspended animation tubes and computer systems. It'll take me about 2 hours to get that done," Scotty was clearly reveling in the challenges of restoring power to the saucer.

"Get on it, Scotty. Doctor McCoy says these people have some time left, so make your first priority restoring power to the computer systems on this ship. I want to know more about these people before we 'wake' them up. I don't want a repeat of the Kahn fiasco." Kirk still wished he had done things differently then. Perhaps if he hadn't been in such a hurry to 'wake' Kahn and his followers, many of the people Kahn had killed would still be alive. People like Captain Terrell and all those people on the Regula 1 space station. Even Lieutenant Marla MacGyver would still be alive. He gave a mental "shrug"; he couldn't change the past—all he could do was learn from it.

"Yes, Capt… Argh!" Scotty's yell seemed to be a combination of surprise and pain.

"Scotty! What's wrong? What's going on down there?" Kirk started moving toward the ladder to the lower deck at the same time Spock did. He got there first due to the fact that he started out closer to the ladder than Kirk did. They looked down the ladder way and saw the drop was about three meters. Jumping was out of the question since they didn't know for sure what was going on. While Kirk and Spock looked down the ladder way they saw the flash of a phaser beam whine past the opening.

"Scotty! Report! What's going on?"

"Kerasus here, Captain. We're under attack by some sort of robot. It's shooting some sort of plasma lightning out of its claws. It's about two meters tall and moves on what appears to be some sort of tracks or tread belts. It has blinking lights on a chest plate and a clear bubble for a head." Kerasus reported quickly and efficiently as she moved defensively and fired her arm phaser at the attacking robot.

"Is the ladder way clear for Spock and me to come down?" Kirk's desire to be with his crew members during trouble was very palpable to the other members of the landing party listening on their communicators.

"Wait just a minute, Captain. I'll draw its attention away from the ladder," Kerasus informed him. "Now, Captain!"

Kirk began descending the ladder without hesitating. The inherent danger of a fire fight with an unknown enemy never entered his head as he descended the ladder. As soon as his head cleared the hole in the upper deck, he pushed away from the ladder and dropped the rest of the way to the lower deck. Spock was right behind him and repeated Kirk's drop movement.

As Kirk's feet hit the deck of the lower level, he allowed his momentum to carry him into a shoulder roll to clear the ladder for Spock to come down. As Kirk rolled forward toward the center of the deck, he stopped his roll and assumed a firing position smoothly and easily behind the robot who was attacking Scotty and Kerasus. His arm snapped into a firing position and he squeezed the firing stud built into the right gauntlet of his suit. A thick, pale blue stream of energy shot over the top of his right fist and splattered against the back of the robot. At the same time he fired the shot at the robot, he picked out Scotty's limp form against the wall on the other side of the deck. It looked like he was simply knocked unconscious by the impact with the wall. He was as safe as he could be at the moment while the Robot attacked Kerasus.

Seeing that his phaser beam had no effect on the robot, Kirk notched his phaser power up to the heaviest stun setting available to the weapon. He called out to Kerasus as he adjusted his phaser setting, "Lieutenant, set your phaser to stun setting five."

"Yes, sir," she replied as she made the adjustment to the weapon.

Kirk fired at the robot again and this time his phaser had a noticeable effect. The robot stopped its advance on Kerasus and the lights on the chest plate began blinking erratically. He knew this because he could see those lights reflected in Janice's visor.

"Perhaps, Captain, if the three of us fire at the same time, it will stop the robot's attack. My tricorder shows your phaser beam temporarily disrupted the robot's control systems. Three simultaneous strikes should be sufficient to completely disrupt the robot's operating system." Spock watched the robot's movements at the same time he viewed the data streaming through his tricorder.

"On my mark, Spock and Kerasus, fire simultaneously on the robot," Kirk commanded. "Ready? 3… 2… 1… Mark!"

Kirk, Spock, and Kerasus all fired at the same time. The three beams impacted the robot and it stopped. All the lights on its chest plate and inside the bubble head blinked faster than before and much more erratically and then blinked out. Smoke began rising through the seams around the robot's "neck". At the same time the lights went out, the robot's arms—that had been shooting what looked like lightning—went limp and dropped in front of it. It appeared to be completely out of commission.

"Spock? Status of that… robot? It is a robot, isn't it?" Kirk asked his science officer without taking his eyes from the robotic device in case it should suddenly start attacking again.

Spock consulted his tricorder and studied the readings flickering rapidly across its display. Spock had modified his tricorder so that it examined more data, in more detail, than any other tricorder in Starfleet. It also displayed that information nearly three times faster than any other tricorder—it was set to display information at a rate Spock considered comfortable; much too quickly for all but a small handful of humans to digest and analyze. For all the speed with which he was reviewing the tricorder data, Spock was nevertheless being very careful in his examination of the readings. The _Enterprise_ and her crew had had many experiences with robots through their years together, and most of those experiences had been unfavorable to put it mildly. There was the whole issue of Doctor Korby and his android recreations. Harry Mudd and his android planet, the Doomsday Machine that destroyed the USS Constellation, the Nomad probe that destroyed any planet that couldn't produce a "Jackson Roykirk", and Spock didn't even like to think about the whole M-5 fiasco. Here was yet another robot bent on harming his crewmates. Sometimes it was enough to shake even a Vulcan's confidence in logic and computers.

"It appears to be completely off-line, Jim," Spock finally replied to Captain Kirk's question. "Tricorder readings show a system of nano repair devices working to restore the robot's systems. I estimate it will take 4.8734 hours for the nanites to complete the necessary repairs."

"I see. Is there a way to manually shut the thing down?" Kirk thought even less of robots than Spock did. His opinion of robots was—generally—something that shouldn't be repeated in front of children.

"Yes, there is. There is a small power pack in the lower-left quadrant on the rear of the robot. If we pull that power pack, the robot's repair systems will continue to effect repairs since they are a lower-level function. However, without the power pack, the robot's higher-level functions will be inoperative and it will not be able to attack us again." Spock's tone was—as usual—calm and matter of fact, but Kirk could see a glint in Spock's eye that indicated his thoughts about robots paralleled his own.

"Well, let's yank it and see how Scotty's doing." As he said this, Kirk moved toward the recumbent Scotsman laying on the floor.

Spock moved to the robot and pulled the power pack and then rechecked his tricorder readings. As his earlier scans had shown, the repair nanites continued their repair tasks on the robot's systems, but the higher-level functions would remain powered down until the power pack was replaced. Spock deftly opened a storage pocket on the right thigh of his d-EVA suit and dropped the power pack into it. A small indicator tell-tale on his visor's HUD turned green to indicate that the storage pocket was properly resealed.

"Kirk to Doctor McCoy: we need you on the lower deck. Scotty's been injured in an attack from a robot on this ship." Even though he knew all the members of the landing party had heard the fight and subsequent conversation between him and Spock, McCoy wouldn't come down until the situation had stabilized.

"I'll be right down, Jim," McCoy responded. From the speed in which his legs appeared in the opening between decks, Kirk knew McCoy had been anxiously waiting at the opening. As soon as his feet touched the floor of the lower deck, McCoy hurried over to the injured Scott and began examining him.

"What was he hit with, Jim?" Before McCoy could determine a treatment regime, he needed to know what the robot had used against the engineer.

"I don't know, Bones. It looked like lightning, to me." Kirk turned to the science officer and queried, "Spock? Do you know what the weapon was?"

"My tricorder readings show it was a high-voltage, high-amperage, electrical plasma. If Mr. Scott had been wearing a normal EVA suit instead of a d-EVA suit, he would have been killed in the attack." Spock's voice betrayed none of the concern he was feeling for his injured crew-mate. Spock was well aware of the deep respect and admiration the crew of the _Enterprise_ had invested in the engineer.

"Thanks, Spock," McCoy replied in a distracted tone as he worked on the ship's chief engineer. Referring to his medical tricorder and the readouts on Scotty's external suit display, McCoy diagnosed Scotty's condition and needs. Pressing a set of buttons on the chest plate of Scotty's d-EVA suit, McCoy administered the medications the tough Scot needed directly from the suit's on-board medicine supplies. The new suits were one of the few bits of modern technology which met with the doctor's approval. Determining a patient's needs and injecting the medicines to meet those needs could all be done without having to open the suit or try to get a pressurized hypo spray through the tough fabric of the suit.

Kirk, Spock, and Kerasus watched McCoy as he worked on Scotty. When the display lights and readouts on the engineer's suit changed, Kirk asked the question they were all thinking, "Is he going to be alright, Bones?"

"He'll be just fine, Jim. The 'lightning' bolts didn't harm him; they merely stunned him. Obviously that damned robot over there was designed to protect the people in the tubes without killing."

"How long until he wakes up?" Kirk questioned. "We need him to get power restored to this ship as soon as possible."

"Ungh…," Scotty coughed a little to clear his throat, then continued, "how about now, Captain?"

"Scotty! Good to have you back with us!" Kirk didn't even attempt to hide the relief in his voice. The communicator channels in the d-EVA suits were suddenly flooded as everyone on the landing party voice sentiments similar to those of the captain. Even Spock contributed a calm 'welcome back' to the clamor.

McCoy took Scotty's proffered hand and helped him to his feet. "How do you feel, Scotty," the doctor asked.

"A bit of a headache, doctor, but 'tis just a wee one. I've felt worse after shore leave, ye know." A burst of laughter sounded as the _Enterprise_ landing party heard the Scotsman's reply to McCoy's question.

"Well, if you're done with your nap, now, Scotty, do you think you might figure out what you can do about restoring power to this ship?" Even though his tone was teasing, the concern and relief in Kirk's voice was evident.

"Why, Cap'n! How could ye say sich a thing?" Mock indignation colored Scotty's reply. "Give me five minutes and I'll be able to tell ye everything about this wee beastie's history all the way back to when her first hull plate was laid!" He moved toward the door clearly labeled as the ship's nuclear power room. He knew that in the case of using d-EVA suits, his voice would clearly carry to the captain without his having to remain standing in front of him. As before, Lieutenant Kerasus went with Scott.

"That's great, Mr. Scott, but I'd settle for knowing if you can get 'her' powered up," Kirk responded.

Turning to Spock, Kirk asked, "Were you able to learn anything from this ship's computer system before we were interrupted, Mr. Spock?"

"Very little, sir," the science officer answered. "I can tell you that the general construction of the computers and control systems are analogous to the late 20th century on your Earth. I am, however, at a loss to explain the English labels and other labeling systems commonly used by the United States of America at that time. For instance, the door to the ship's power generator room," at this point, Spock nodded in the direction of the door which Scott and Kerasus had just gone through, "is clearly labeled with the symbol for nuclear power." Kirk, too, had noticed the yellow and black trefoil on the door in question.

"So, you're saying this ship came from Earth? I don't remember anything about a ship like this in my history classes."

"No, sir, I'm not 'saying' that. I am 'saying' that I cannot explain the reasons for the familiar labels. Starfleet records show no ship like this had ever been constructed by any of the mid-20th century countries on your Earth. Until, Mr. Scott gets power restored I am unable to examine the records stored within this ship's computer system." Spock spoke calmly and concisely as he explained to the captain about the roadblock he had encountered.

"Speakin' o' power, Cap'n, I've finished w'muh checks," Scotty interjected as the science officer paused.

"Go ahead, Scotty. How long will it take you to restore power?"

"About 2 weeks, sir," Scotty replied to Kirk's question. "The nuclear generators are just a pile of corrosion, rust, and decay. They'll have to be completely rebuilt and new parts fabricated. Fabrication is what'll take us the longest. Once we have the new engine and generators assembled on the Enterprise, we can just beam their old stuff out and beam our new stuff in here. This ship's fuel supplies are exhausted, too. We don't have any deutronium on the _Enterprise_, but we do have some substitutes that'll work just as well for 'em. Better in fact; our fissionables are refined to a much higher quality than they had available to themselves back in their day. Then it's just a matter of hookin' up the wirin' and turnin' the key."

"Two weeks? That's too long, Scotty. We need to have these folks 'on their feet' before the Orions can get back here with a force we can't handle," Kirk explained to the chief engineer. He knew that if they weren't gone from this area—and soon!—he wouldn't have as easy a time with the Orion reinforcements as they'd had with the original Orion 3-ship group. "How soon can you get this ship fixed?"

"Cap'n, I haven't seen anything like these systems outside of a museum or history of engineering textbook. The data plates on the generators and engines clearly show this ship came from Earth. I cannae make out the city, but the country is shown as 'U.S.A.' and the launch date was October 16, 1997."

"So, if information in this ship indicates it came from Earth in 1997, why is there no record of it in the Starfleet archives?" Kirk voiced his question as he turned to Spock. "Spock? Thoughts?"

"There are multiple possibilities, Captain. Records could have been lost during your planet's World War III conflict. Perhaps this ship was launched in secret by the American government. Any suppositions on our part at this time would be premature and unsupported by the facts at hand." Spock disliked having to draw conclusions when there was no evidence to support those conclusions.

"Riiight," Kirk drew the word out as he teased Spock. "You just hate to 'guess', don't you Spock?"

"Sir, 'guessing' is the first step in the journey to mediocre performance. I would be inexcusably remiss in my duty to Starfleet and the _Enterprise_ if I did not perform to the best of my ability," Spock said with dignity and all but drew himself up taller as he responded to Kirk's teasing.

Kirk's smile became a chuckle as he listened to Spock's reply. "Very well, Mr. Spock, I certainly wouldn't want you to not do your best." He continued to chuckle as he turned back to Scotty.

"Alright, Mr. Scott, what _can_ you do to shorten the time you need and how quickly can you get this museum piece up and running?"

Scotty's eyes became unfocused as he ran through options in his mind. After a few seconds of intense contemplation, he answered Captain Kirk's question, "If I bring over a couple of our emergency generators—the medium sized ones—I can have them in place and ready to supply power by the end of beta shift today. The lads and I can then get the magnetic containment fields installed in their old deutronium supply hold and provide them with all of the matter-antimatter fuels they'd need. That'll take about six hours to install and fill with fuel. So, I can have power back up for the whole ship in about 18 hours, Cap'n. Unless we run into something extremely unusual about this ship, all of the damaged wiring, plumbing, and control panels will be fixed in about two hours. Add another hour, or two, for system checks, and she'll be good to go. Altogether…" he paused as he thought about the repairs the saucer shaped space vehicle would require. "Altogether it'll take 24 hours to get her up and runnin'."

"That's too long, Scotty! These people will be dead by then!" McCoy's irritation at not being able to immediately do something to help the people on the strange ship frustrated him. That irritation always came out in his voce.

"Scotty? Can you still get a generator hooked up to the cold-sleep tubes on the upper deck?" Kirk had not forgotten the crew of this mystery ship. He was merely running through a command checklist in his head. Getting the _Enterprise_ and the mystery ship out of the area was a high priority task on that checklist.

"Aye, sir, I can get that done for the good doctor in about 30 minutes. He'll have the power he needs for the tubes; then it'll be up to him and Mr. Spock to interpret the computers and instructions."

"Lieutenant Freeman to Captain Kirk," Kirk's communicator called out to him.

"Go ahead, lieutenant. What can you tell me?"

"None of the holes in the hull are in critical areas and none of the critical systems on this ship were involved. I think they shot a bunch of holes in this ship to dump the atmosphere out of it—possibly to kill the crew without harming the ship itself.

"The hull is constructed out of a titanium alloy. It's lightweight and strong; a good choice for ship building back in its day. We have better materials now, of course, but I can have her patched up in no time. If you just want a patch over the holes to hold some air in the ship, Ensign Garcia's team can have that done in about 20 minutes. If you want the patches to completely blend in to the ship's hull so she shows no sign of damage, we can get that done in about 45 minutes. Captain's Choice, sir," she concluded.

"Go for the 45 minute fix, 'Win'," Kirk informed her and used the nickname the crew of the _Enterprise_ had hung on her. Windy Freeman stood about 5'5" and had long, thick, red hair. She typically wore it in a "pony tail" during duty hours, but left it down and relaxed for off-duty hours. Like Commander Scott, there wasn't much Lieutenant Windy Freeman couldn't fix or fabricate.

"Very good, sir. She'll be airtight and right in 45 minutes or less, or your money back!" Freeman's exceptional good humor was a part of her makeup, although she was still intensely embarrassed by the 'shitloads' story—that story concerned an event which happened during her initial duty stint in the _Enterprise's_ communications section. There was no doubt that Freeman completely excelled in damage control, however; probably because it appealed to her "creative side".

"Alright, people! Listen up," Kirk called throughout the entire landing party with his d EVA suit's communicator function. "Mr. Scott, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy are going to supplement the power systems for the cold sleep tubes using one of our generators. It will take them about 30 minutes to get that done.

"Lieutenant Freeman and her damage control team will have the hull of this ship gas-tight in 45 minutes. Everyone not directly involved with these two priority tasks will move around and scan everything on this ship. I don't want any more surprises jumping out at us," Kirk's voice rang with command authority as he issued the orders. "Any questions?"

A string of 'no sirs' filled the communications channels as the various _Enterprise_ crew members moved to their tasks. As captain of the ship, Kirk could best aid his people by staying out of their way. Spock, McCoy, and Scotty moved to the back side of the cold sleep tubes as they determined the best and most appropriate method of supplementing their power requirements. Nurse Chapel continued to take tricorder readings of occupants of the cold sleep capsules. She wanted to learn everything she could by the time Doctor McCoy returned. Lieutenant Freeman moved around the upper and lower decks of the saucer ship as she coordinated the damage control team's hull repair efforts. As she worked she kept a close eye on Crewman Kenneth Hill; his assignment to the Enterprise was his first deep space assignment since his graduation from Engineering School and this was his first landing party assignment. Lt. Freeman wanted to make sure the youngster came to no harm while he put into practice the skills he had learned in school.

Since Kirk had no particular duties at the moment, he felt free to move around and examine the control consoles more closely. All of the lights, dials, and readouts on the control consoles were dark and inoperative. He could make out the labels for many of the switches and controls on the panels with his d-EVA suit's helmet lights but he didn't try flipping, pushing, or pulling any of them. While the ship appeared to be completely dead to all outward appearances, Kirk felt no need to take a chance by pushing buttons. There was always a chance the button he pressed would be 'live'. He did want to look out of the large three-panel window panes at the front of the ship, though. He always enjoyed looking at his starship from outside every time he got the chance, but now that he had the chance he couldn't. The large windows in the front of the saucer ship were closed; covered by what appeared to be heavy duty metal shields or doors.

Looking once again at the instrument panels just below the large triple window, Kirk wondered at the lack of seating for the users of the controls. He moved his shoulders slightly to bring his helmet lights off the control panels to the front of the control section. Because of the lack of atmosphere inside the saucer there was absolutely no refraction of the light so whatever the light wasn't shining on directly was pitch black and the line between light and dark was as sharp as a Klingon knife blade. With his helmet lights now shining on the vertical front of the instrument panel, Kirk cold see the seam where a door slid up or out or opened in some fashion. There were a couple of buttons that he just 'knew' would open the door. On the next panel, just to the left of the first one he looked at was another seam and button set, similar to the first. This one was just a bit different, though; the seam looked bigger. Kirk squatted down—appreciating how much easier these new d-EVA suits moved when compared to earlier suits—and looked more closely at the seam. It was open! Just a little, but still he thought he could hood his fingers on the edge and pull the panel out a little more so he could see what was inside.

With Kirk, thinking of an action is very shortly followed by performing that action. Hooking the tips of his suit gloves around the edges of the seam, he began to gently pull. He felt the resistance of the panel and pulled a little harder until the panel began to move toward him. As he pulled on the panel, he had to reposition his feet to allow the door to keep moving out and there were none. He made a mental note of any vibrations or sounds transmitted up the arm of his suit. He felt what appeared to be a gear train of some sort, but the door moved smoothly and easily outward. 'Good engineering,' he thought to himself. 'These people obviously built their ships to last.' At last the door reached the end of its travel and Kirk felt a small click through the arms of his suit—as if the door had reached a detent in its travel mechanism.

Kirk stood and moved around to the side of the now open panel to see what his efforts had gained him. He looked down and saw a black cushioned couch. Obviously, it was an acceleration couch. However, it wasn't the couch that surprised him, rather it was what the couch held that gave him pause.

"Bones! I have another patient for you," Kirk called to the doctor.

"What?" the doctor exclaimed. "Nurse Chapel, will you go and assist the captain, please?"

"Yes, doctor," the blond nurse replied.

Kirk watched as one of the suited figures stood and began moving toward him. At the same time, his HUD showed a blue halo around the figure and the name 'Chapel' floated above the figure. As she approached, Kirk turned his attention back to the couch. He saw an older man—he appeared to be a human male, like the others—with graying hair and the long forehead that indicated a receding hairline. Deep furrows in the man's face and forehead indicated an individual who tended to over-worry about petty things. Just looking at the sleeping face gave Kirk the feeling that this man shouldn't be trusted. The cold-sleep capsule enclosing the man was obviously hastily put together from whatever parts were available to the crew of this ship. Because the capsule had been retracted into the control console—Kirk was unsure of just how that was done; perhaps the couch rotated as it went into the console?—it wasn't as covered in dust and debris as were the other six capsules at the side of this deck. As Kirk watched the man through the clear material of the cold-sleep capsule he could see small tremors, or spasms, in the man's hands and neck.

"Captain?" Nurse Chapel's voice broke into Kirks thoughts.

"Yes, Nurse?"

"Even though this capsule appears to be cobbled together, the man inside is alive. His life signs are a bit lower than those of the other six passengers. My tricorder readings show his age to be somewhere between 50 and 60 Earth years old. Readings also show that because of the apparent hasty construction of the capsule, he isn't as fully or deeply 'asleep' as the other people are. This means that he continued to age with the passage of time."

"Can you tell me how much older he is?"

"No, sir, I can't," Chapel responded. "Not without knowing his age at the time he entered the capsule and also how long ago that was. If I had to guess, based on my tricorder scans, I'd say he aged 10, or 15, years while 'sleeping'."

"Is it safe to leave him in the capsule," Kirk queried.

"I believe so, Captain. If it hasn't ceased to function by now, it probably won't stop in the next 45 minutes." Chapel's answer to his question gave Kirk some relief. It meant he wouldn't be forced into 'thawing out' this man until an investigation of the computer records gave Kirk some idea of what he was dealing with here.

"Very well, Nurse," he replied. "We'll leave him 'as is' and continue to work on getting power to this ship."

Turning away from the control console at the front of the saucer, Kirk made his way to where Scotty was working alongside Spock and McCoy. "Scotty? Status on getting some power restored?"

"Just about there, Cap'n. I have the generator hooked into what appears to be an auxiliary power supply input. I have a few more adjustments to make and I'll be able to bring their systems back on-line. I want to do this verra slowly so's not to overload these circuits. I dunno how long she's been 'cold' and I dinnae want ta melt anything," the jovial chief engineer explained his progress to Kirk.

"Very good, Scotty. Lieutenant Freeman? What's your status on getting the holes patched up?" Kirk switched his vocal attention from the engineer to the leader of the damage control team without actually turning toward her. He continued to watch Scotty as the engineer worked on restoring power to the saucer.

"Just finished the last repair, now, sir," Freeman responded. "Ensign Garcia and his team have finished up the exterior hull repairs and they're ready to return to the ship. I agree with their assessment, Captain; we don't need anyone else in here and Hill and I can begin restoring atmosphere without their assistance."

"Very well, Lieutenant," Kirk acknowledged and switched his communicator channel to the first preset frequency and spoke again, "Kirk to Enterprise."

"Enterprise here, Captain," Commander Uhura's voice sounded rich and full through his helmet's speakers.

"Beam the exterior damage control team back to the ship and then have two of our atmosphere generators beamed over here. Lieutenant Freeman will let you know where she wants them."

"Yes, sir; standby for moment, please," Uhura said and the communicator channel muted.

Kirk knew his communications chief was rapidly giving orders on another channel and would be back with him shortly. While he waited for her to resume her conversation with him, he wandered around the deck of the mystery saucer ship. Now that they were close to getting power and atmosphere restored, he could feel the old, familiar excitement building. He knew they were close to reanimating the crew of this ship and he was looking forward to talking with them and learning all about them and their travels and their origins.

"Captain Kirk? The transporter room reports the safe arrival of the damage control team. Lieutenant Rand also says the atmosphere generators are ready to be beamed over. She's talked to Lieutenant Freeman for arrival coordinates and she just needs your authorization to beam them over," Uhura succinctly informed Kirk of the proceedings of the last few moments. An excellent officer, she understood the need to keep the ship's captain informed of everything that happened on his ship.

"Very well, Uhura. Tell Janice to 'go ahead' and beam the generators over," Kirk responded. He turned toward Lieutenant Freeman and watched as she moved off to the side a step or two. The twinkling sparkle of the transporter began and the first atmosphere generator began to take shape on the deck next to Freeman.

"Lieutenant Freeman? You only requested one generator?" The surprise Kirk felt crept into his tone. He had thought the young lieutenant would have wanted two, or possibly even three, of the generators.

"No, sir, I requested two of them. I had the first one beamed here to the upper deck and I'm about to go downstairs to ensure the second generator has a clear space in which to land," she replied to the captain's question. "I thought having one generator on each deck level would reduce some of the debris turbulence. Each generator is set to produce atmosphere to match the samples taken from the cold-sleep capsules. I intend to have the lower deck generator run at 70 percent and the upper deck run at 30 percent. That should keep the bulk of the mess downstairs. If I manually open the airlock doors up here about six inches and open the lower airlock doors about halfway, most of the crud should just whisk itself away. Keep the 'housekeepers' a bit happier that way, sir." The plucky, young lieutenant had a twinkle in her eye as she finished with this last bit of information.

"Alright, Win. By all means, let's keep the housekeepers happy." Kirk chuckled as he turned from Freeman and moved toward the cold-sleep capsules.

"Everyone prepare for atmosphere effects. It's going to get a bit 'windy' in here," Kirk continued to chuckle as he made the pun about the plan and Freeman's first name.

"Aye, Captain."

"Yes, sir."

"A most logical plan, Captain."

The chorus of affirmative responses flowed over the communicator as the other members of the _Enterprise_ crew acknowledged Lieutenant Freeman's plan to replenish the atmosphere.

"Are you ready, Lieutenant Freeman?" Kirk inquired.

"One moment, Captain; I'm opening the last airlock now," Freeman grunted as she used the manual opening mechanism to open the upper deck airlock.

"Ready, sir," she finished.

"Everybody hang on to something," Kirk informed his crew and watched as they braced themselves against the impending rush of wind. "Go ahead, Freeman."

The senior damage control officer from the _Enterprise_ pressed a series of buttons on the control panel built into the sleeve of her d-EVA suit and everyone watched as the atmosphere generator began its work. At first the generator didn't appear to be functioning, but after a few seconds they could see a solid stream of frozen air come from the output ports. As they watched, the generator built up to the full output programmed in to it, and after a moment the amount of air inside the saucer ship soon approached about 25 percent of normal. The atmosphere generators were designed to quickly replace the air in a holed ship to reduce, or even prevent, the loss of life aboard. Because of this, the inside of the saucer ship soon resembled the inside of a tornado. Dirt, debris, and loose materials were quickly scooped up by the raging winds and literally blown out of the open airlock doors.

The tornado created by Lieutenant Freeman didn't last long at all before all of the loose debris build up from an unknown number of years was blown out of the ship. Lieutenant Freeman called to the other damage control technician remaining on the saucer ship, "Crewman Hill? Close the airlock doors downstairs. Make sure you close the _outer_ airlock _first_, Kenny. Do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am, if I don't close the outer door first, I won't be able to open the inner door later without exhausting all the air out to space." Crewman Ken Hill's voice showed that he thought Freeman was telling him something obvious that he already knew.

"Loose the attitude, Hill! Mistakes you make at home might get you a 'boo-boo' on your finger. They'll kill you out here, Crewman! Do you understand me?" Normally Freeman's voice was light and ready to wring all the enjoyment out any situation in which she found herself, Kirk knew. Now, however, her tone had become solid steel and she used that steel to lash the youngest member of her crew into line.

"Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry," the abashed voice of the young crewman came through the speakers.

"Don't be sorry, just be careful. Report to me when you're ready to close the doors." Freeman's voice also held a hint of worry for Hill. Kirk heard a click and his HUD readout told him Freeman had switched communicator channels. Kirk's command suit automatically monitored the new channel Freeman used and Kirk heard her call back to the ship.

"Freeman to Enterprise. Transporter room," she called out.

"Enterprise here, Lieutenant. This is Rand in Transporter Room 6," Janice Rand's voice responded.

"Janice, can you get a lock on Crewman Hill's d-EVA suit and monitor him, please?"

"Yes, Win, I can do that. Hold on just a sec," the Enterprise's Support Services lieutenant said. "I've got him."

"Ok," Freeman said to Rand. There was another click in Kirk's speakers and Freeman called out, "Kenny? Are you ready?"

"Yes, ma'am, I'm in position."

"Alright, close the outer door. Report when complete," Freeman ordered.

Kirk watched as Freeman moved into the airlock and readied herself to close the outer airlock on the upper deck. The force of the wind increased a bit more and Kirk knew that Hill was closing the door on the lower deck.

"Outer door is secured, Lieutenant. The seal appears good and my tricorder doesn't show any leaks." Hill moved back into the saucer ship and continued, "I'm closing the inner door now, ma'am. There! Both airlock doors are closed, secured and show good seals."

"Good job, Kenny. Stand by for a minute," Freeman said as she began closing the outer door she stood next to.

The force of the winds inside the saucer ship began to abate as Freeman closed the airlock door. With every inch gained toward the closed position, the force of the wind died a bit more. The sound of the wind, however, increased in pitch. Until at the very last, the wind made a high-pitched, shrill scream and then died completely. Freeman touched the controls on her sleeve again and the atmosphere generators cycled down and then shut off. Freeman consulted her tricorder and very carefully studied the information it displayed.

"Captain? The hull is sealed and she's holding air at one standard atmosphere. No leaks and all readings are well within the 'green'. Interior temperature is 11.2 degrees C and rising. The atmosphere generators are set to gradually raise the air temperature to Starfleet standard 21 degrees C. It'll take about 8 hours to reach that temperature." Freeman's report to Kirk was quick and concise. The vibrancy and humor had also returned to her tone.

"Great job, Win," Kirk lauded her. "If you're ready, go ahead and take Hill back to the _Enterprise_ and take care of your paperwork and inventory reports for the materials used in your repairs."

"Aye, sir," Freeman replied. She moved to gather up her tools and check the atmosphere generators one more time before gathering up Hill and beaming back to the _Enterprise_.

Kirk turned to where Scotty and McCoy worked at the cold-sleep capsules. "Status?"

"I have the emergency generator connected and ready to power up, Cap'n," Scott informed him.

"No change in the status of the sleepers, Jim," McCoy said without looking up from his tricorder. Kirk noticed that McCoy had removed his helmet and gloves and laid them aside.

"Spock? Have you found anything with their computer systems?" Kirk also removed his helmet and gloves as he turned to where his first officer worked at an open panel in the wall of the saucer ship.

"I am unable to read any of the data contained in the computer databanks, however, the computers themselves have provided some answers," the Science Office straightened and moved toward the captain.

"What did you find?"

"These computers are an exact match to the Pentium 22's manufactured on your Earth in the mid- to late-21st century. They were built in California and bear the labels and identification stickers for IBM, Microsoft, as well as several other computer hardware manufacturers of that time. They are constructed from the typical advanced type 4 silicone processors in use at that time. Furthermore, a deep scan of the physical properties of the hardware components—and even the saucer ship as a whole—reveal molecular components typical of Earth.

There are also several other molecular signatures on the ship that indicate it has been in space for approximately 300 years and it has visited several planetary systems. Those planetary systems are unknown at this time; I am unable to tell you where this ship has been with any specifics. I can say with certainty there are no harmful life forms in, or on, this ship at this time." Spock's report was delivered in his typical, dry tone of voice. Someone who didn't know Spock would assume the Vulcan felt nothing, or—perhaps even a bit bored. Kirk knew better than that. He knew Spock was as excited about the discovery of this ship as he, himself, was.

"Any reason to not power up the computers?" Kirk also knew Spock was practically bouncing inside with excitement at the prospect of activating the computers on this mystery ship.

"No, sir. There is a 96.39856 percent chance that nothing unpleasant will happen," Spock replied.

"Alright. Good to hear. Bones? Are you and Scotty ready to hook our power up to this ship?" Kirk wanted to make sure all of his people were ready for the next step.

"We're ready, Jim," McCoy answered for Scotty as well as himself.

"Alright, Scotty, flip the switch."

The actual 'flipping of the switch' wasn't near as exciting as Kirk's order hinted. Scotty merely raised his arm and pressed a button the sleeve of his d-EVA suit, much in the same way Freeman had activated the atmosphere generators. The lights came up and all the myriad displays and indicators began twinkling, beeping, or humming softly to themselves. The gravity generation system seemed to 'shiver' slightly and the _Enterprise_ crew felt a momentary fluctuation in their weight. The gravity generators seemed to hunt around for a few seconds, as if they were checking themselves out, and then they settled down. The mighty starship's crew felt their weight steady down at what felt like Earth normal.

Kirk looked around, surprised at all of the electrical activity takikng place in the mystery ship. He looked at Spock and said, "No 'surprises', eh, Mr. Spock? Did _you_ expect this, might I ask?"

"No, Jim, I did not. However, I did not say there would be no surprises. I did say there was a 96.39856 percent chance that nothing 'unpleasant' would happen. Do you consider the lights to be 'unpleasant', Captain?" Spock was clearly teasing his captain in this moment of relative quiet and peace. Since he had also removed his helmet and gloves, he know that no one else in the landing party would hear what he said to Kirk.

"Spock? You're making a joke? You're teasing me? Wow. I just don't know how to process this new information." Kirk was clearly joking with Spock. He could, after all, give just as good as he got.

"Captain? I am a Vulcan. I am unable to 'joke' or 'tease'. Sir." Spock's raised eyebrow, calm expression, and tranquil tone of voice all indicated to those who knew him well that this was a Vulcan who could—and sometimes did—joke.

"Well, in that case, let's see what other 'surprises' this 'flying saucer' has for us. If you're quite finished with not teasing me, would you be so kind as to initiate a study of these people's computer data banks?"

"Certainly, Captain," Spock replied serenely and moved off with his tricorder and began to study the computer systems.

Kirk turned back toward the center of the ship and resumed his exploration of the mystery ship. Things were quiet and calm and Kirk fully intended to enjoy the quiet and also the mystery of this new ship. After all, it was Kirk's experience that things didn't stay quiet for long. Something always tended to pop up and spoil it.

* * *

Thank you for reading my first story. I hope you've enjoyed what you've read and I hope you will continue to enjoy the coming chapters. I write in my spare time—What? Spare time? What the heck is that?—so be patient and trust that I'm getting this story out there as fast as I can. Please let me know what you think about it.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"_Captain's Log, Stardate 8621.8: We have completed initial repairs to the mystery saucer ship which was being attacked by one of the Orion Cartels. The saucer's hull has been repaired, the atmosphere restored, and power has been restored to the cold-sleep capsules using one of the _Enterprise's_ emergency generators. Mr. Spock has nearly completed his investigation of the mystery ship's computer, databases, and he is investigating the ship's log. I hope the information he finds will tell us about these people before we wake them up as I don't want a repeat of the Kahn Noonien Singh fiasco. I want to recommend Lieutenant Windy Freeman for a commendation for the extremely skillful manner in which she, and her damage control team, completed the repairs to this ship's hull. They exceeded my expectations using a minimum of materials and time."_

"Captain? I have finished my review of this ship's computer systems," Spock said as he approached Kirk.

"Good to hear, Mr. Spock. What have you learned?" Kirk was anxious to learn more about these people and how they came to be in this sector of space.

"This ship is, indeed, from Earth. It was launched on October 16, 1997—old Earth calendar—with a crew of six. The stated goal of their mission was to colonize the Alpha Centauri system. The crew is actually a family who was selected from among applicants from the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and several other countries. Their names are the 'Robinsons' and the leader of the expedition was Professor John Robinson." As Spock briefed his captain he showed him the photographs of the crew that his tricorder had obtained from the mystery ship's computer records.

"Professor Robinson has twin doctorates in astrophysics and applied planetary geology. His wife, Maureen, is a doctor of biochemistry and the expedition physician. Their oldest daughter, Judy, has a doctorate in music theory. Their middle child, Penny, served as the expedition xenobiologist under Maureen and is apparently self-trained from materials included in the ship's records. Their youngest child, a male named William—who apparently goes by 'Will'—is the primary engineer for the mission and is also self-taught from other learning materials in the computer. The databanks contain a very complete encyclopedia of all the fields of study known to Earth science at the time of their launch." Spock paused in his recitation of his findings.

"Go on, Mr. Spock; you've told me about five of them. What about the sixth member of the crew—the other male?" Kirk prompted Spock to continue.

"He is listed as Major Donald West and serves as the primary pilot for the ship. The name of this ship, by the way, is the '_Jupiter Two_'. The _Jupiter Two_ mission was launched in secret—supposedly—by the western governments of Earth…"

"What do you mean 'supposedly' secret, Mr. Spock," Kirk interrupted. "Secret from whom?"

"Based on background information of the political climate, and my own knowledge of your Earth's history, it is my opinion they were trying to keep the mission a secret from Kahn. There are several references to the 'Eastern Powers' and Emperor Singh. As you know, Kahn came to power at that point in your history."

"Another Kahn connection, Spock?" Kirk's mind immediately shifted into 'problem' mode as he remembered all the grief and death Kahn had caused. Chief among the casualties was Scotty's nephew, Peter.

"Apparently so, Jim. However, according to their records, these people are what you would refer to as the 'good guys'." Spock spoke to reassure his captain.

"Alright, Spock, go on. What else have you discovered?"

"The seventh member of this crew—the male you located in the acceleration couch—is named Smith. He was the medical doctor in charge of preparing the crew for their mission and their journey to Alpha Centauri. He was not supposed to be included in the mission, and based on log entries by Professor Robinson, I believe Smith was, in fact, a paid agent for Kahn. Apparently Smith snuck aboard the _Jupiter Two_ just prior to launch and reprogrammed the robot we encountered earlier to destroy this ship and the Robinsons. Based on information in Starfleet records, and our own personal knowledge of Kahn, it was his intention to arrive at Alpha Centauri before the 'Western Governments' in order to build an empire with which he could dominate this section of the galaxy."

"Yes, but we know he failed in that intention, don't we?"

"Yes, sir, we do. Doctor Smith, however, did partially succeed in the mission he was paid to destroy. The robot did attempt to destroy the _Jupiter Two_; he was stopped by the combined actions of Doctor Smith and Professor Robinson. During the robot's attack on the ship and her crew, the astrographics computer was damaged and several key locator points in the database were lost. The robot—Professor Robinson continually refers to it as a 'he'—also damaged several other systems on the _Jupiter Two_. Among those systems the ship's warp drive unit was damaged and the fuel jettison systems were damaged. The warp drive unit shorted out and the _Jupiter Two_ exceeded Warp 10 before it essentially ran out of fuel. Incidentally, Captain, their warp drive system is similar to Zefram Cochrane's early efforts; however, it is not as efficient. By the time the warp drive unit shut down the Robinson's found themselves in what we now refer to as the Beta Quadrant approximately 984.3869 light years from Earth. With the astrometrics data available to them at that time they were effectively lost in space."

"984 light years would effectively put them out past Rigel and the Orion colonies. How have they managed to come this far back and—apparently—on a direct course for Earth?" Kirk was surprised and slightly suspicious of this seeming miracle of interstellar navigation by a people who were new to warp travel.

"A later entry in their ship's log explains that they ran into a more advanced race of people. I am unsure of the race to which these alien people belong, but they were able to assist the Robinsons in their search for a return route to Earth. The meeting between the Robinsons and the advanced aliens took place 25 months after their initial launch from Earth. They were unable to provide the Robinsons with fuel for their warp drive unit nor could they provide the Robinsons with a different and more efficient drive. According to Professor Robinson's log entry, these aliens had their own version of our Prime Directive. They did help the Robinsons repair their cold sleep capsules and construct an additional unit for Doctor Smith. After they departed from the alien's home world and reached their maximum available sub-light cruising speed, they all entered cold sleep. Professor Robinson's final note in his log states he was supposed to be awakened by the _Jupiter Two_'s computer every 12 months to check the ship and their course and speed."

"So, what happened to them, Spock? We know they launched in 1997 and that was 300 years ago; where have they been all this time? They should have reached Earth by now."

"According to data I found in the _Jupiter Two's_ sensor logs, the ship hit a severe ion storm 10 months after they started their return to Earth." Spock was calm and matter of fact in his tone as he provided this information to Captain Kirk. "That ion storm—we long-range sensor recordings on that storm—was severe enough that a 'rip' formed in real space as well as in subspace. This rip actually propelled the _Jupiter Two_ 450.87932 light years and 290.69078 years into the future… into our present time, Jim."

"That's undoubtedly the reason all of their fuel supplies were exhausted and the Robinsons were very nearly killed in their 'sleep'," Kirk supplied this information from his own knowledge of ion storms and unshielded starships that encountered them. "What do you estimate the chances are of us helping them return to their own time period, Spock?"

Spock's eyes took on a far-away look as he performed hundreds of mathematical and warp physics calculations in his head. "Much less than 1, Jim; in point of fact, and after calculating all variables in this problem, I would estimate their chances of successfully returning to their own time period to be approximately 0.003251 percent."

"Why can't you just say the word 'impossible', you green-blooded, hob-goblin, adding machine?" McCoy's voice sounded right behind Kirk's left side. Kirk had been son engrossed in Spock's findings, he hadn't even heard the doctor approach.

"Because, Doctor McCoy, it is not 'impossible' as you put it. There is a very small, very real chance they could actually succeed in the attempt. However, that chance of success is very miniscule, indeed," Spock informed the doctor with no change in his tone. Spock was used to the doctor's acidic wit as well as his brief flashes of temper.

"Bones, that's enough. So, in that case Mr. Spock, I suppose you could say that the Robinsons aren't 'lost in space' any longer." Kirk was satisfied with the explanations given him by his first officer.

"Now, Bones, what do you have to tell me? Are you ready to wake up the Robinsons? Or at least Professor Robinson?" Kirk was anxious to get the process of waking these people started.

"Yeah, Jim," McCoy began, "Christine and I are all set. We know definitely which cold-sleep capsule contains Professor Robinson and I've studied the reanimation sequences on my tricorder. I could wake these folks up in my sleep, Jim."

Kirk held his hand up with the palm facing Spock in the ages-old gesture of "not now" before Spock could begin his assault on the doctor's logic and phrasing. "Hold that thought for later, Mr. Spock. Doctor McCoy? Shall we get this show on the road? I'd also very much appreciate it if you could do this in a waking state." Even though he stopped Spock from saying something similar to his teasing comment to McCoy, he still couldn't resist saying something anyway.

* * *

Thank you for reading my first story. I hope you've enjoyed what you've read and I hope you will continue to enjoy the coming chapters. I write in my spare time—What? Spare time? What the heck is that?—so be patient and trust that I'm getting this story out there as fast as I can. Please let me know what you think about it.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The dreamer could see the darkness lifting and brightening in front of his eyes. There were shapes moving about in the fuzzy light but he couldn't make out what they were. The cold was better, too; it was warmer than it had been and it didn't cut through to the core of him like it had before. Before? Before what? He knew there was something he had to do; something he needed to be doing, but he still couldn't remember what it was.

He thought he remembered quakes and shaking of the room around him—although he still couldn't see the room, he could sense—remember?—that he was in a room. A round and small room.

He was hearing something. Something far away, but getting closer. That wasn't right, though, was it? He shouldn't be hearing anything or anyone but he wasn't sure how he knew that, either.

"…son? Profes…? …you hear me?" The voice—and he knew it was a voice now—was easier to make out, but still broken. Like a radio that was losing its reception in a storm. He listened harder and tried to make out what the voice was saying.

"…name is… oy. Can you… me? Professor Robin…" The voice was male; he could tell that now. He wasn't sure why this shouldn't be, but he knew it shouldn't. The voice wasn't supposed to be here. He tried to open his eyes and see who the voice belonged to, but they still wouldn't open. He was still stuck in the warm, light, brightness in this room.

"Professor Robinson? My na… is McCoy. I'm a doc… You're safe… to help you. Can you he… me?" He was doing better understanding the voice, now.

"Ugnh…" His voice, on the other hand, didn't seem to work any better than his eyes did.

"No, professor, don't try to move and don't talk. My name is McCoy. I'm a medical doctor and I'm here to help you. I'm going to give you an injection to help you. You're suffering from prolonged exposure to cryo-hibernation. Do you understand? You have been asleep for a long, long time. This shot will help you." The voice sounded human—and why did that not seem strange? The thought of an unhuman voice didn't seem unusual at all. Not only did the voice sound human, it sounded like it was from the south. Now, that really did seem wrong. Why?

The dreamer—he knew his name was John Robinson, now—heard a hissing sound near his left ear. He felt the pressure on his neck and then felt a cool, soothing wave wash through him. Everywhere the wave touched, felt better. His mind felt sharper and his vision started clearing up much more quickly than it had before.

"No, Professor, don't try to open your eyes yet," at the same time the voice said this, he felt a warm, very soft, and very small hand cover his eyes. The hand definitely didn't go with the voice and felt female.

"Maureen?" His voice was harsh and croaking and cracking. Like it hadn't been used in a thousand years.

"No, Professor Robinson, it's not Maureen. It's my nurse and she's here to help you, too. You're among friends. Scotty? Can you lower the light level in here?" Scotty? Who was that? He knew the voice—McCoy's voice—was clearly talking to someone else. How many people were here with him? Three? The voice, the hand identified as 'nurse', and somebody called 'Scotty'.

"Aye, doc, gimme jus a second," this new voice replied the doctor's voice with—of all things—a Scottish accent. He had to be dreaming! First a voice from the deep south of the United States; then a warm, soft woman's hand; and now a Scottish brogue? A dream was the only explanation. He began to struggle; feebly and ineffectively, he knew, but he wanted up. He needed to be up! Another hand—a twin to the one covering his eyes—pressed down on his chest.

"It's alright, Professor. We're all friends and we're all here to help you and your family. You're still aboard your ship. Everyone is safe. Everyone is alive," the voice spoke reassuringly. It was strange, but he actually did feel better by hearing this last statement. Maureen! She was safe and alive! He felt a weight lift off of his shoulders at knowing this and his struggles calmed and ceased.

"Good, Professor. I'm going to have Nurse Chapel take her hand off of your eyes, now. Scotty dimmed the lights in here so you'll be able to see better. Are you ready? Christine? Go ahead," and with that the hand slowly uncovered his eyes and let him see the people around him.

The first sight that met his eyes was a pretty blond lady in a silver suit of some sort. It reminded him of his own space suit, but it looked more advanced and much more comfortable than his own space suit. The blond had piercing blue eyes from which kindness seemed to pour. Those blue eyes crinkled as her smile came to them and her voice was rich with kindness and compassion as she said, "Welcome back, Professor Robinson. I'm Christine Chapel and I'm a nurse."

"Hello, nurse," Robinson croaked out.

"Professor, I'm Doctor McCoy," the gravely, southern drawl came from Robinson's left. He saw a kindly face; craggy and pock-marked with experiences—some of which were no doubt unpleasant. The glacial blue eyes beneath the thick brows were like those of Nurse Chapel; kind, compassionate, and intelligent. This was the face of a man that would move Heaven and Earth if it meant saving a patient.

Before Robinson could say anything to the doctor, McCoy continued, "I want to introduce you to someone who is anxious to meet you. Professor Robinson, this is Captain Kirk."

Robinson looked to McCoy's left as a third man came into his line of sight. He made a mental note about how his eyesight was improving quickly and decided it was because the illumination in the _Jupiter Two_ was increasing. Looking at the man who had just moved into his field of vision, Robinson didn't need to wonder why he was called 'captain'. This man had an air of authority around him that insisted on—and received—instant obedience. Not necessarily a bad thing, that air; Robinson felt he could trust this man implicitly.

"Good afternoon, Professor Robinson. I'm Captain James T. Kirk, commanding the _USS Enterprise_. I'm glad to meet you." The voice matched the look of this 'captain'. It was a voice used to command and used to inspiring others to exceed their own very best efforts.

"Captain Kirk. I'm pleased to meet you. Could you, perhaps, tell me what's going on?" Robinson was exceedingly curious to know what was happening. It was something out of the ordinary, he knew. He also knew without looking out of a port or window that he was still in space. He knew that the _Jupiter Two_ hadn't made it back to Earth as he had expected when he and his family went into suspended animation again. It wasn't just that he was still on the _Jupiter Two_; it was something more than that and it was all subconscious. Of all the microscopic hints and tells that all spelled 'space' the one that leapt to the forefront of his mind was the smell of the air. It didn't have the 'freshness' that a planetary ecology had, but at the same time it was different than the smell and feel the _Jupiter Two's_ air normally had.

"It's a long story, Professor," Kirk began, "and we're not entirely sure of the details yet. My science officer is still studying your logs and records and we're going to need your help to figure it all out."

"Science officer? How many people do you have here Captain Kirk?" Robinson heard something in Kirk's tone that made him ask that question. He had the feeling there were more people on his ship than he had met so far.

"Well, Professor, right this minute I have 8 of my crew here to help you and your family and your ship," Kirk said this matter-of-factly.

"Let me guess," Robinson said as he looked Kirk directly in the eye, "you have twice that many in your ship on the other side of my airlock. Therefore, I must do what you tell me or there will be bad consequences for me and my family. Is that about right?" Why did every alien he met have to try this crap?

"No, Professor, it's not like that at all. Firstly," Kirk began to reassure Robinson, "I don't have 'twice that number' in my ship." Kirk looked at Robinson and held his hands up with the palms forward toward Robinson. "Secondly, my ship isn't 'on the other side of your airlock' like you're thinking. My ship is actually about two kilometers away from your ship. Because of the damage to your ship, we are towing you with our tractor beam. Lastly, I intend no harm to you and your family. I'm here to help you."

Robinson saw that Kirk believed what he was saying, but that didn't necessarily mean what he said was true. Robinson and his family had learned that lesson the hard way in the last 3 years. He wasn't about to just trust Kirk because he spoke in a reassuring manner.

"Look, Professor, I know you have no reason to trust me. I realize you and your family must have had some less than pleasant experiences during your journey. However, we really are here to help you."

"Captain Kirk, do you have any idea how many aliens we have met in the last three years? Do you know how many of them have disguised themselves and hidden their real motives?" Robinson was feeling very much like his own self now. That shot of McCoy's had really done the trick for him. He swung his legs off the acceleration couch and sat up. As he did so, he saw the suspended animation chamber he and Don had made for Doctor Smith. He could see it was still operating and Doctor Smith was still inside. He looked quickly over to the six chambers built along the side of the wall. His was open—obviously since he was outside of it—but the others were still closed and operating. He launched himself off the couch and moved quickly to the wall behind the chambers and ran a quick diagnostic on them. Maureen and the children and Don were still alive and still asleep. The instruments told him that the chambers were on the verge of malfunctioning and in another very few hours his family and his copilot would be dead.

After first checking on his family and ensuring they were safe, he began looking around the rest of the upper level of the _Jupiter Two_. Everywhere he looked he saw dead instruments. He moved quickly and surely from panel to panel and each one was the same; all the instruments, dials, and indicator lights were dead. There was also a very fine coating of dust on everything. His ship was dead. How could that be? The _Jupiter Two_ had fuel to last for 100 years and the journey home was only supposed to take half that time. What had happened? He looked around and noticed the strange machine hooked up to the suspended animation chambers. The power they were consuming made it evident to Robinson the strange machine was a generator of some sort. Smaller than he'd ever seen before, but it was a generator nonetheless.

"Alright, Captain Kirk, I think it's time you told me what's going on here." He turned and looked at Kirk and the rest of his people. They were all in their silver suits, but none of them were wearing gloves or helmets. He could see their helmets on the deck beneath the astrogator console and he could see their gloves tucked into their suit belts.

"Well, Professor Robinson, it hasn't been three years since your launch," Kirk began.

"I know that, Captain. We started out for Alpha Centauri five years ago."

"No, Professor, it's not been five years, either. Sir, I'm not sure how to tell you this," Kirk hesitated a moment before continuing. He knew this information was going to be hard on the professor. He looked over Robinson's shoulder and saw McCoy and Spock moving to either side of the professor and behind him. He looked Robinson in the eye and continued, "You and your family have been asleep for a bit more than 300 years."

* * *

Thank you for reading my first story. I hope you've enjoyed what you've read and I hope you will continue to enjoy the coming chapters. I write in my spare time—What? Spare time? What the heck is that?—so be patient and trust that I'm getting this story out there as fast as I can. Please let me know what you think about it.


End file.
